Sunday, August 31, 2008

I believe this photo was taken in the 1950s prior to the birth of yours truely. They look younger than I remember. I believe this was either taken at my Uncle Harley's house or Dad's parents' house. His mother, Mary, died in 1960 a few months after my birth. His father, Albert, died in 1967. Albert lived with my parents in the early 1960s, but I don't have any memories of it.

The blog photo is one of my childhood photos at a studio, Studer's Photos, San Antonio Texas. It's no longer in business but I have fond memories of photos taken there. My grandmother Anne loved to have photos taken of me. She took me every year for a studio portrait until I was in first grade and the school photographer took my photo. I'll publish some of them later so you can see my photos from childhood. The funny thing is that I have a pose of my mother that is so similar to this one... She's about the same age too. I'll post that later too. They are both 8x10 photos that I framed the same way.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

My dog is very old.... very very old. Yesterday we took him to the vet. I was afraid that he would have to be put down as he was only walking on 3 legs. Dr. Mulkey of Spring Creek Animal Clinic came to our rescue. Our usual vet, Dr. Alan Ward, is out of town for the holiday weekend... and can you believe it, there isn't an on-call system for vets. We had a late 5:30 appointment with him. He reminded me of James Herriot. Very old fashioned and serious. He examined Blarney and said he has a torn ACL. Like a sports star. My dog is a sports star. ??? Anyway, we have some super duper pain meds and he's walking like a champ again. Until we can go and see Dr. Ward next week at the Plano Animal Clinic. Dr. Ward is my hero keeping Blarney alive long past his prime. Vets, the unsung heroes of our lives!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

My husband loves to plan our vacations. In the last couple of years, we haven't taken a long out of state vacation unfortunately.

Here's the line up of past Bloom productions (you might notice the theme of baseball running through the vacations... well Mr. Bloom is a die hard fan. His goal is to visit all the major league ballparks in America some day.)

2002 - Trip to a conference in AtlantaGreat drive-in (The Varsity, the world's largest such place), great downtown fun (Atlanta Underground), wonderful history (MLK National Memorial), tallest escalator (to the metro), and a great ballpark (Atlanta Braves)

2003 - Texas to New York with many stops along the way.Tennessee (great Memphis BBQ (Corky's) & Chinese Giant Pandas at the Zoo and Greenville - home of President Andrew Johnson)Virginia (Manassas battlefield and home of a good friend of mine in Fairfax Co.)North Carolina (Durham Bulls game and very good peaches)New York (NYC & Catskills stayed in the homes of a college friend of Chuck's; on 4th of July attended a game of the Hudson Valley Racoons minor league team, the best baseball game I've ever been to, ever!) and Cooperstown, home of the baseball Hall of Fame, and the Hudson Valley, Hyde Park (FDR's home and the Vanderbilt Mansion - both national park sites)Mongomery, Ala. (visited the Southern Poverty Law Center headquarters and saw the Civil Rights Memorial)

New Orleans, visiting with Chuck's son and wife, and Shreveport.

2004 - Texas to Michigan & Chicago with many stops along the way.Highlights: Chuck's daughter Kelsey came along; visited Lincoln's birthplace & national historic site; visited Oak Park and Frank Lloyd Wright museum and attended Sunday service at Unity Chapel that he designed; Chuck & Kelsey attended a Cubs game at Wrigley Field; University of Michigan; a great art museum on the campus; Ann Arbor; Detroit; Kentucky (the famed Kentucky Horse Farm); Cincinnati chili and much more; stayed in Oak Park with my BBF and her hubby; Arkansas (home of a good friend of mine and Arkansas Travelers minor league baseball game)

2005 - California & OregonChuck drove from Dallas to California (LAX) to meet me there (saved a few days of vacation time for me); He visited New Mexico and Arizona along the way with Joshua Tree, Saguaro and other national park destinations; San Diego: zoo, water front, famous hotel (Coronado del Rey), Chuck's sister Vicki and her daughter Alissa; Getty Museum in LA; San Francisco: ship museum, Ghiaderelli square, wonderful Dungeness crab; Aquarium under the Bay; Golden Gate Bridge; Muir Woods; Redwood forest; Oregon visiting Jennifer & her little girl; Harry & David factory store; Crater Lake; Ashland home of Lithia water (natural lithium in the water); ZZ Top concert outdoors; Yosemite National Park; Whiskeytown in Redding, Calif.

2006 - The Texas TourGonzales: visited the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery and saw the graves of Dr. John Turner Tinsley and his wife, Nancy Willis. Ancestors on my mother's father's mother's side of the family. Her name was Cordelia Tinsley, daughter of Fountain Gillespie Tinsley who was John Turner Tinsley's son. Dr. John Turner Tinsley was a patriot of the Texas War for Independence.Bigfoot: my maternal grandmother's home town, visited my great-grandparents graves, John T. and Cornelia Boyd.San Antonio: family homeNew Braunfels: German Texan historyBoerne: Zoeller Family Reunion

2007 - Family Reunion & AustinLouis Mueller's BBQ in Taylor (one of the top five BBQ places according to Texas Monthly) and Kreuz Market in Lockhart (also in the top 5)Austin, TX (research at the Texas State Library)Boerne, TX

2008 - Family Reunion & San Antonio - some highlights of where we visitedSmitty's BBQ in Lockhart (guess what? Also top 5) http://www.smittysmarket.com/Fredricksburg, TX plus Enchanted Rock, Luckenbach TX (famous due to Waylon Jennings-Willie Nelson song). Passing through Sisterdale & Comfort. These were all German settlements of the mid-1800's like Boerne, TX.San Antonio Riverwalk & Jazz at Jim Cullum's LandingBrunch at the Menger Hotel (next to the Alamo)Luling City Market (great BBQ and the fourth of the top 5; sausage 1 blouse 0)